Sir Percival's First Day At The Ministry
by Ralinde
Summary: Once again, it's the annual Bring Your Child To Work Day at the Ministry of Magic. Today, it's Percy's turn to tag along with his father.


_A/N: This was written for the Bring Your Child To Work Day Competition (Arthur&amp;Percy), the Percy Weasley Challenge and the Connect The Weasleys Challenge (Arthur&amp;Percy with the prompt "the naked truth"), all of which can be found on the HPFC._

* * *

"Dad, dad, today's the day, right?"

Arthur laughed as his overenthusiastic eleven-year-old son came rushing down the stairs.

"Yes, it's today."

Percy gave him a wide smile. "I'm very excited," he bounced. "King Arthur and his faithful knight Percival, going on an adventure. Just the two of them."

Arthur suddenly felt a bit emotional. When Percy had been little, after having heard about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, he had always been making up stories in which the King and his Knights went on adventures. He always tried to engage his brothers in it, making sure they knew that he, Percival, was the bravest knight of them all.

In later years, those made-up stories had been replaced by books, and sometimes Quidditch with his brothers (though more of the former and considerably less of the latter).

To hear Percy referencing it like that today, made Arthur realise how much the boy had missed spending some quality time with him. He felt guilty. He had thought that the boys much rather played together than with him, but apparently he had been wrong - at least concerning Percy.

He felt a nudge in his side and looked up. Beside him, Molly inclined her head towards Percy, who was looking expectantly at him.

"Yes, it's going to be a big adventure," he said. "One King Arthur couldn't fulfill without his Percival."

Percy sat down at the breakfast table, beaming. He loaded his plate with food.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Molly asked him.

Percy shook his head fervently, his mouth full of scrambled eggs. He swallowed. "Nuh-uh," he said. "Knights need to eat well. They never know when their next meal's going to be."

She shook her head, slightly amused. "I guess you're in for a long day," she whispered in Arthur's ear.

Arthur chuckled. "I can handle it, Mollywobbles, don't worry. I think he'll be bored soon enough, just like Bill and Charlie were when I brought them."

"I have a feeling you might be surprised there," Molly said, but didn't elaborate on the subject.

After breakfast, they walked towards the living room and stepped into the fireplace. Arthur took Percy's hand in his left hand, and in his right hand he took Floo Powder. He cleared his throat.

"Are you ready, Sir Percival?"

"Absolutely!"

"Well then, here we go." He let the Floo Powder fall down and called "Ministry Of Magic!"

-o0o-

Moments later, they were standing in the hall of the Ministry. All around them, wizards and witches burst out of the fireplaces, a lot of them bringing a child with them. Ever since Minister Bagnold had installed the Bring-Your-Child-To-Work-Day it had been so popular, that they had turned it into an annual event. He had brought Bill the summer before he went to Hogwarts, and then he'd done the same thing with Charlie, and now it was Percy's turn.

Percy himself in the meantime, was looking around in excitement. His gaze wandered around the hall until it rested on the Fountain of Magical Brethren.

"Dad? Why is that goblin looking at the witch and wizard like that? I thought you always said they didn't really like humans. I know they weren't very friendly when we were at Gringotts to get money for our books last week," he remembered.

Arthur sighed. "Well, wizards and goblins have always had a bit of a complicated relation. I don't think it's ever been as harmonious as it's shown here, though."

Percy nodded, like he had known that all along.

"Can I see where you work?" he changed the subject, and Arthur was relieved that he did. He didn't want to start the day by telling Percy the naked truth about the way goblins and wizards interacted, nor was he very keen on a discussion on goblin wars.

"Of course you can. That's what you came here for, isn't it, to see your old man's work place?"

They walked towards the elevator, Percy asking hundreds of questions. "Where does that door lead to? Who is that man in the funny hat? Why is the ceiling so high? What would the Minister do if suddenly a pink elephant leapt up and pointed its wand at her?"

Arthur blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just checking if you were paying attention," Percy grinned.

"Ah, well, the answers to your questions are: To the Department of Mystification, someone I know of by face, but not by name, and because it makes the Ministry more imposing. As for the last question, I don't have a clue. Perhaps you can ask her yourself later. She's usually around on this day."

They took the elevator to the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts and stepped into Arthur's office. Percy looked around critically at the small room that looked more like a cupboard than an office.

"Dad? Why are there no windows in your office?"

"There is one, look," he replied and pointed at the postcard-sized window. "Admittedly, it's not that big, but at least it's better than what Watson has to do with..."

"But don't you miss the sun?"

"I do plenty of fieldwork. And that's the best part of the job anyway."

Percy turned around excitedly. "Can we do fieldwork today? A new adventure for King Arthur and Sir Percival?"

Arthur smiled. "We'll see. Let's have a look at what the memos say, shall we?"

"Okay!" He wandered over towards the internal memos. There were only two of them, but they were fluttering around frantically. Percy took the first one, which was written on fluorescent green paper, and began to read.

"_Results for the Bogden case are in. Paint-repellant spell. Nothing too extraordinary, but thought you'd like to know."_

"Ah, that's nice of Benjamin to brief me. I already thought it was something like that."

"What does it mean, Dad? What's it about?"

"Last week, there was a Muggle, complaining that no matter what he tried, no paint would stick to his fences. We suspected a trick, and investigated the matter. The next-door neighbour, a wizard who had had a row with the man, will have been brought in for a warning I suppose."

"That's not really a nice thing to do, isn't it Dad?"

"It isn't," Arthur confirmed. _But it isn't half so bad as the stuff we had to deal with during the war_.

Percy grabbed the second memo, which was written on a yellow piece of paper.

_Got another Babbity on our hands, Macclesfield this time. Gone out to investigate. Merlin, I swear, if it's Joanna Thurkell again..._

Arthur groaned. "Not again!"

Percy looked at his father in surprise. "Babbity? As in Babbity Rabbity? From the story?"

"That's the one. Over the last couple of months, we've had several reports of Muggles saying they heard a stump in the woods cackle. Some even claimed they saw it jump. There's a witch who has admitted to be responsible for several of these incidents. We've brought her in five times already, but she seems to think it's highly amusing. It's a lot of work, working on all those Muggles to either alter their memory or making them believe that what they saw or heard was just a figment of their imagination."

"Can't she be put in Azkaban?"

"Azkaban is only for the dangerous criminals. That won't work. Sometimes other solutions are better."

"But she's breeching the Statute of Secrecy! And how can another solution be better when she continues doing it?"

Arthur looked at his son, amused by the sudden outburst of righteousness.

"Well, Sir Percival, how would you handle it if you were to decide?"

Percy was silent for a moment, contemplating the possibilities.

"Can't she do chores?"

Arthur tried to keep a straight face, but Percy was already shaking his head.

"No, I don't think that'll work," he said. "I know! The Ministry should also have a medium prison."

"A medium prison?" Arthur echoed.

"Yes, because you said Azkaban is only for when you've done something really bad, like, like murder. But there are other people who disobey the law. And if a warning doesn't help, or if they keep doing it, then maybe they go to a medium prison. You know, just so they know the Ministry means it. And then hopefully they won't do it again."

Percy glanced at him. "Do you think that's a good idea, Dad?"

_His view on the world is still so unstained. He hasn't lived through the horrors of the war, he was too young to understand._ Arthur nodded. "Yes, it does sound good. You know, maybe they should make you the Minister," he teased. "Sir Percival, the first knight to become the Minister of Magic…"

Percy's face lit up. "Do you really think I could do that?"

"Yeah, why not? But you'll need to work hard, try your best at Hogwarts…"

"I can do that!"

"I know you can." Percy had always been the most serious of their children, so Arthur was convinced that if Percy wanted something, he could do it.

Percy sat in silence, his mind lost in thought. After a couple of minutes, he looked up. "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"When Sir Percival becomes the Minister, will King Arthur help him?"

Arthur stood up. There were tears in his eyes. "Arthur will always be there for his Percival." He hugged his son tightly. "No doubt about it."


End file.
